The present invention relates generally to mechanical structures for moving and locking a working member, and more particularly to a shutter device having a linkage that serves to lock a shutter as well as to open and close the shutter.
The shutter device of the present invention is applicable to automatic transaction systems. In particular, the present invention is advantageously applicable to a shutter structure at a pool part connected to a bill dispensing unit (BDU), a bill recycle unit (BRU) or an envelope depository unit (EDU) in an automatic teller machine (ATM), cash dispenser (CD), etc.
Hereupon, the BDUs are those units dedicated to bill withdrawal which dispense the bills corresponding to the amount to be withdrawn when a user enters predetermined transaction information, such as card data, his/her PIN, and the amount to be withdrawn. The BRUs are depositing/withdrawing units which enable a user to not only deposit but also withdraw money through entry of the predetermined transaction information. The BRUs inspect the deposited bills and reuse them. The EDUs are units dedicated to deposit which process the amount to be deposited when a user place bill(s) in an envelope and puts the envelope in the unit with entry of the predetermined transaction information.
The automatic transaction systems (or apparatuses) are those which accept and/or dispense one or more transaction media (such as bills, coins, cards, train tickets, entry tickets, securities, e.g., stock certificates, pari-mutuel tickets, lottery tickets, vouchers, slips, merchandise, diagnosis appointment cards) in accordance with the predetermined transaction information entered by a user. In the instant application, automatic transaction systems therefore broadly cover automatic money loan machines, automatic card issue units, automatic bankbook output machines, etc., and the most typical type is an ATM installed at banks and other financial institutions.
Referring to FIG. 12, shutter device 1 in a conventional ATM includes shutter 10 attached to a front surface of pool part 4 in ATM housing 2; shutter driving belt 18, connected to the shutter 10 by joint 12 and passed around rollers 14, 16, which moves the shutter 10; motor 20 which drives the shutter driving belt 18 via the roller 14; lock driving magnet 22 which locks and unlock the shutter 10 at a close position; and various sensors (e.g., opening sensor 24, closing sensor 26, and lock sensor 28).
The shutter 10 moves from an opening position indicated by the broken line, to a close position, indicated by the full line, and opens the pool part 4 when located at the opening position. In order to secure stable movements, a guide member (not shown) guides the shutter 10. In FIG. 12, the pool part 4 is connected to a BRU 6 and bills are carried between the pool part 4 and the BRU 6 under control of the controller 8 at the printed board (not shown). Of course, this shutter device 1 is applicable to BDUs and EDUs.
A description will now be given of a withdrawal action in an ATM having such a conventional shutter device 1. A user, operating an operational part (i.e., facade) attached to a surface of the ATM housing 2, inserts a card, and enters a PIN and the amount to be withdrawn. When the card is inserted, the controller 8 communicates, based on the information recorded on the card magnetic stripe, with a host computer which administers the card and transmits to the host computer the PIN and the amount to be withdrawn entered by the user. The controller 8 then requests the host computer to check the transaction information, (e.g., if the PIN is correct and if the withdrawal amount is within the allowable limit) and asks for an approval of the transaction.
On the other hand, the controller 8 anticipates the transactional approval from the host computer, and determines the kind and number of bills corresponding to the withdrawal amount, independent of a process in the host computer, so as to shorten the transaction time. The controller 8 then instructs the BRU 6 to carry the kind of money. In response, the BRU 6 feeds the bills to the pool part 4. The carried bills are temporarily pooled at the pool part 4 until all the bills are carried to the pool part 4 and the controller 8 receives the transactional approval from the host computer.
For example, when the user tries to withdraw .Yen.54,000, the BRU 6 recognizes that five .Yen.10,000 bills and four .Yen.1,000 bills based on the instruction from the controller 8. As a result, the BRU 6 first feeds to the pool part 4 five .Yen.10,000 bills from a .Yen.10,000 bill storing unit (not show) which stores .Yen.10,000 bills, and then feeds to the pool part 4 four .Yen.1,000 bills from a .Yen.1,000 bill storing unit (not shown) which stores .Yen.1,000 bills. Optionally, the BRU 6 may feed nine bills one by one to the pool part 4. Alternatively, another pool part may be provided at a front stage of the pool part 4. The BRU 6 may feed all the nine bills to the other pool part, and then all the bills may be fed together to the pool part 4.
In either event, since the shutter 10 should remain closed until all the nine bills are pooled at the pool part 4 and until the host computer responds a transactional approval, the shutter 10 should be fixed (or locked) at the close position. For example, if the shutter 10 is opened when only five bills are pooled at the pool part 4 and the bills are taken out, the bill feeding process would become hindered. On the other hand, even after all the nine bills are pooled at the pool part 4 and thus the feeding operation ends, if the shutter is opened and the bills are taken out during the communication with the host computer, that would cause a theft or loss of the bills if the host computer disapproves the transaction due to an incorrect PIN or any other reason.
Therefore, when the closing sensor 26 detects that the shutter 10 is positioned at the close position, the lock driving magnet 22 moves the lock part 30 from a position indicated by the broken line to a position indicated by the full line as illustrated, locking the shutter 10 at the closing position. In order to prevent loss and theft of money to the utmost, the lock sensor 28 confirms whether locking by the lock part 30 works securely. In this way, when a transaction medium is particularly valuable, such as money, the lock sensor 28 is usually provided in the automatic transaction system to check whether locking normally works.
The lock driving magnet 22 is configured such that it drives the lock part 30 only after the closing sensor 26 detects that the shutter 10 is positioned at the close position.
When all the nine bills are pooled at the pool part 4 and the host computer responds a transactional approval, the controller 8 controls the shutter device 1 whereby the lock driving magnet 22 moves the lock part 30 from the position indicated by the full line to the position indicated by the broken line, unlocking the shutter 10. The lock sensor 28 detects the unlocking. After the lock sensor 28 detects the unlocking, the controller 8 controls the shutter device 1 whereby the shutter 1 starts opening. Thereby, the shutter 10 is moved by motor 20 through the shutter driving belt 18 etc., to the open position indicated by the broken line. The opening sensor 24 detects that the shutter 10 has reached the open position.
When the shutter 10 opens, then the user takes out the .Yen.54,000 from the pool part 4. When all the bills are taken out from the pool part 4, the shutter 10 is moved again to the close position indicated by the full line and locked there.
Thus, the conventional shutter 1 includes, independently, an opening/closing device (12, 14, 16, 18, 20) and a locking device (22, 30) which locks and unlocks the shutter 10 at the close position. In addition, a driving device (20) for the opening/closing device and a driving device (22) for the locking device are separately and independently provided. Furthermore, the conventional shutter device 1 uses three sensors, such as the opening sensor 24, the closing sensor 26, and the lock sensor 28, so as to detects the open state, the close state, the lock state, and unlock state of the shutter 10, respectively.
The conventional shutter device thus requires the large number of components, secondary power for locking and unlocking, and a relatively large installation space. People have indicated the room for improvement of the shutter 1 for purposes of compactness, power-saving, and reduced cost. In particular, these demands have been increased in the field of automatic transaction systems to which this shutter device 1 is applied.